Cifarelli



Feb. 7, 1956 v. CIFARELLI 2,733,453

PLAYPEN Filed Oct. 13, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l |NVENTOR A c-ro|=z c I FA RELL- j 1 I I B 1 A FOR EY Feb. 7, 1956 v. CIFARELLI 2,733,453

PLAYPEN Filed Oct. 13, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 q 1 F K33 FIG. 0 Z}; I in INVENTOR VICTOR C I FA RELLI AT TORNEY United States Patentf) PLAYPEN Victor Cifarelli, West Hartford, Conn., assignor to Mary C. Cifarelli, West Hartford, (Conn.

Application October 13, 1952, Serial No. 314,503

3 Claims. (Cl. -99

This invention relates to a childs play-pen and more particularly to an improved foldable play-pen having a floor formed of sections foldable upon themselves to permit the pen to be carried or stored in compact condition.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a foursided play-pen having vertical side walls hinged together in pairs, and having floor members maintained above the surface on whichthe pen is placed and hinged together along their inner edges; these members being also hinged along their outer edges to one member of each pair of the hinged side walls.

A feature of importance of the invention is that the pen may be folded with the side walls closely adjacent each other and with the floor members folded and enclosed between pairs of the side walls.

Another object of the invention is to provide supporting means for the floor members, these supporting means comprising members pivotally supported on opposite side walls and being movable to their supporting positions when the pen is being set up.

And finally it is an object of the invention to provide a foot lever to raise the floor members and aid in folding the pen to its closed condition.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention may include the features of construction and operation set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings annexed hereto and forming a part of this specification, I have shown the invention embodied in a play-pen of square form but it will be understood that the invention can be otherwise embodied and that the drawings are not to be construed as defining or limiting the scope of the invention, the claims appended to this specification being relied upon for that purpose.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a play-pen in unfolded or set-up condition made according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the play-pen shown in Fig. 1, the view being taken at an oblique angle to more clearly show features of the construction;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the pen shown in Figs. 1 and 2 partially folded to its carrying or storing condition;

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevational view of the pen taken on the plane of the line 4-4 in Fig. 3;'and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the pen in its completely folded condition.

In the above mentioned drawings, there has been shown but one embodiment of the invention which is now deemed preferable but it is to be understood that changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Briefly and in its broadest aspect, the invention may include the following principal parts: First, side walls each formed of a frame member and hinged together in pairs; second, a pair of floor sections hinged to each other along 2 adjacent edges and hinged along parallel edges to op posite side wall frame members; third, bracket members to support the central portions of the floor sections, each of these members being pivotally attached to a side wall frame; fourth, an arm for each support attached to a supl porting member at one end and to a side wall frame at' its other end so that when setting up the play-pen opening of the side wall frames to their unfolded positions the supporting members will be moved to their supporting positions; and fifth, a foot lever attached to one of the floor members to aid in raising the floor member and fold the pen.

Referring more in detail to the figures of the drawing and first to Figure 1, it will be seen that the play-pen se- 4 are rigidlyattached to or form a part of the side wall. member;- As shown in the figure the posts 16 extend at right angles to the side wall members 10 to which they are attached.

The side wall members iii arehinged together in pairs,

the hinges 20 being mounted to'connect the wider end post 16 of one side wall it) with the narrower end post 18 of an adjacent side wall it). The hinged corners of the pen, it will be seen, are diametrically opposed to each other. The end posts at the other corners are detachably attached together by suitable latching means 22. At the bottom of each corner or end post 16 are mounted casters 24 by means of which the pen may be readily moved about.

Floor sections 26 are provided within the side walls 10 there being two similar sections hinged to each other by hinges 28 and to opposite side Wall members by hinges 369. By means of these hinged connections the floor members 26 can be folded as shown in Fig. 4. These hinged floor sections also serve to hold the side walls 10 together.

To support the inner portions of the floor sections 26 two pivotally mounted arms 32 are provided pivoted as shown at their outer ends to the lower horizontal members 14 on opposite side wall members 10. These supports or arms 32 have depending portions extending a suflicient distance to hold the inner portions of the floor members 26 at a proper distance above the surface on which the pen is placed. The inner portion of each of the supporting members 32 has attached to it one end of a rod 34. The opposite end of each rod 34 is attached pivotally to the lower horizontal member 14 of a side wall 10 at an intermediate point in its length. By means of these supporting members 32 the floor sections 26 will be etfectively supported and during the folding f the pen the supports 32 by means of their rods 34 will be drawn to positions directly below their side walls.

To facilitate folding the pen the floor members 26 may be tilted to initiate the folding operation by a foot operated lever. For this purpose a member 36 may be attached as shown in Fig. 2 to one of the floor members 26 one end of which extends outwardly beyond the side wall and has a pedal 38 secured thereon. By depressing this extended end of the arm 36 the floor sections 26 will be tilted upward toward the position shown in Fig. 4.

After tilting the floor sections 26 to the position shown in Pig. 4 and continuing the tilting movement until the floor sections are in closely adjacent vertical positions, the opposite side walls not attached to the floor sections may be folded to the positions shown in Pig. 5.

I claim as my invention:

1. A foldable play-pen comprising vertical side walls hinged together in pairs, the free ends of one pair being detachablyattached. respectively to thefree ends of the -other pair to form an enclosure, floor1 sections hinged rtogether-along afline through the center of the pen and hingedly attachedto opposite side walls, whereby saidfloor sections and side walls may be folded into compact parallel carrying position, and floor section supporting members pivoted at one of their ends respectively to opposite sidewalls, and arms attached to side walls perpendi-cular'to thesaid opposite side Walls to which the floor section supporting members are pivoted at onetof their endsand-to the free ends of said floor supporting members at their other ends to actuate said floor supporting members into their folded and unfolded positions: as saidside walls are folded and unfolded.

2. A foldableplay-pencomprising vertical side walls hinged'together in pairs, the free ends of one pair being detachablyattached respectively to the free ends of the other pair to form an enclosure, a pair of floor sections forsaid enclosure hinged together along their adjacent edges and havingtheir outer edges hinged to opposite side walls, pivotally mountedsupporting members for interior portions of said floor sections which are hingedlyattached to opposite side walls, said supporting members being mounted for swinging; movement when said pen is folded with the floor sections and side walls into parallelism, and means pivotally attached at one end to side walls perpendicular to the said opposite side walls to which the floor section supporting members, are, pivoted andflat, their opposite ends to the free ends of said supporting members to actuate said supporting members into their folded and unfolded positions as said side walls are folded and unfolded.

3. A foldable play-pen comprising four side walls so attached to each other that they may be folded into closely adjacent parallel positions, a pair of hinged floor sections adapted to cover the enclosure area when unfolded and to be folded into a parallel position between said folded walls when said pen is folded, and members attached pivotally to two opposite walls of said side walls to support said floor sections when said pen is unfolded and to be housed below said side walls when said pen is folded, and means pivotally attached at one end to side walls perpendicular to the said opposite side walls to which the fioor section supporting members are pivoted and at their opposite'ends to the free ends of said supporting members to actuate said supporting members into,

their folded and unfolded positions as said side walls are folded and unfolded.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Gregg July 16, 1901 

